Story by Jaime Sumersille
Sustainable Long Island announced today it was awarded $130,000 in grant funding from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (UUC) at Shelter Rock, supporting the organization's ongoing recovery and revitalization efforts in the City of Long Beach following Superstorm Sandy.
"UUC's funding allows Sustainable Long Island to work comprehensively and holistically with every stakeholder in Long Beach on the road to recovery following Superstorm Sandy; ensuring the community is involved in every step of the process," said Sustainable Long Island Executive Director Amy Engel. "This grant is a game-changer as it enables Sustainable Long Island to continue our efforts in Long Beach with the goal of meeting the needs of the many underserved residents throughout the community."
Almost immediately following Superstorm Sandy, Sustainable Long Island developed a plan in conjunction with the City Manager's office to assist the City in engaging its residents and businesses owners through public participation initiatives. One of the first projects was gathering input on what a new, stronger Long Beach Boardwalk, the mainstay of its tourism revenue and the community as a whole, should look like.
Sustainable Long Island conducted numerous boardwalk focus groups and public meetings, along with the distribution of a boardwalk visioning surveys. Together, the meetings and surveys produced feedback and input from over 2,500 participants, all of which was incorporated as the City planned for the $44.2 million resurrection of the new boardwalk to be completed by early November.
"The unprecedented community outreach initiative that Sustainable Long Island spearheaded concerning the Long Beach boardwalk rebuild was phenomenal," said Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman. "They truly are a tremendous organization and we are thrilled to continue partnering with them on projects as the City's comeback continues."
The city is looking to bolster its small business recovery and prevent closure of local businesses; preserve jobs and employment; encourage tourism; and ultimately create a more economically vibrant community, according to Sustainable Long Island. The non-profit organization will move forward its work with the city by focusing on five key areas. The five-point collaboration plan includes:
Strengthening the tourist aspect of the local economy, a major revenue source for the City, through the creation of a marketing campaign in conjunction with the Local Development Corporation.
Assisting the community's significant Hispanic population that was devastated by the storm to find new housing, developing new job skills to replace jobs lost and dealing with the psychological after-effects of the storm that are afflicting this underserved population.
Helping businesses recover by providing technical assistance and services so as to reinvigorate the local economy.
Promoting increased access to healthy foods by bringing together two underserved populations through the development of a community garden or youth-run farmers' market.
Developing a Post-Disaster Economic Recovery Internship program for college students interested in post-disaster recovery environmental initiatives, community outreach, and public engagement.
"Soon into the boardwalk redevelopment process, it became apparent to Sustainable Long Island that we weren't just addressing the economic, business, or tourist component of recovery,” Engel said. “We were addressing something much more: the human component, the people component. That to us is what makes the greatest impact."
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